#if all we cared about was who did the murders in these games 90% of the trilogy cases would be half as long

[blueskittlesart]

sorry. “dual destinies sucks” post is getting traction for some reason. did i like. miss something about that game??? “yeah what they did to apollo sucks but the twist ending was amazing” you mean the twist ending that the guy you were looking for for the entirety of the game was a random faceless “evil murderer” with no motivations or backstory that they just happened to slap onto the detective character to manufacture drama? the twist that removed any of the satisfaction of learning why the hell any of the game happened because the literal, in-game canon explanation is just ‘yeah we don’t know why he did it he’s just crazy ig 🤷’ did i play a different game than the rest of you or

[animentality]

Tavtash leaves such a sour taste in my mouth. Like they could have had durgetash but they were too set on playing a manic pixie dream girl who is super sweet and lovely except that oh yeah she's fucking a mass murderer and a slaver

You know what's really funny to me?

I wrote a 5000 word rant about disliking Tavtash, and I think Tavs in general ruined the story of Baldur's Gate, but then I deleted it. Because people here just want me to fuel their Durgetash/Gortash thirst by making the funnies and the angsties.

They don't care to read things that challenge their viewpoints, offer a strong negative opinion, or encourage them to think critically.

And I know people wouldn't agree with it. Ultimately, that's why I delete a lot of rants. I come here so people can stroke my ego. I don't generally come here to start fights, because that simply bores me.

So it's just comedic to me that I get this anon, right as I deleted that post.

Because I'm glad someone understands.

Like oh, I'm sorry, you're too "nice" to pick the Dark Urge?

But you have no problem blowing a slaver?

You're like the stereotypical 90s love interests who are "nice girls" but also inexplicably dating a dude who knocks a kid in a wheelchair down the stairs. How the fuck can you be "nice" and compassionate, while the dude you're fucking is a sociopathic felon?

Durgetash works for TWO reasons.

Reason 1: They are both fucking awful, and we all know it. Them torturing and ruining each other is a tragic romance with broken teeth, and we enjoy the low moan of a dying animal, tearing itself apart in distress. They start evil, they end evil. Evil horny bastard sex. Tavtash could never be so demented.

Don't jump into bed with Enver Gortash if you intend to keep your hands clean either.

Reason 2: The Dark Urge was given a second chance, even though they didn't deserve it, and took it. They were given the opportunity to fix their mistakes in game. Gortash doesn't get that. The romance is in the tragedy of, he could never be saved. And you cannot save him, even as you save the rest of the world. You grow, and he stays behind.

The romance is in the longing and the yearning for something that is no longer there. The camaraderie of two lonely people...who were separated, and never ever came back together again. It's also about how you were born evil, but chose redemption, while he was born innocent, but chose damnation. Durgetash operates well on this level because it's always equality of opposites. It is character development, mirrored. And it's fascinating to consider.

And what does Tavtash have going on?

It's someone Gortash just met who has something he wants, who may or may not want to kill him but he's desperate enough to throw his eggs in that particular basket. And on Tav's side, it's weird because it's like omg.

I just met him, and he ruined my life, he put a fucking tadpole in my head, and I'm close to becoming a mindless monster without any free will, something he DIRECTLY did to me and my loved ones -

But I still think he's hot.

Hm. ok. that might be amusing if there wasn't a better precursor for a relationship sitting right there beneath you. rotting in Orin's dungeon.

I won't deny, Durgetash might be absolutely nuts - but it will never be as nuts as Tavtash.

But anyway. You didn't hear that from me.

If anyone asks, I looooove Tavtash. I loooooove Tavs. Especially YOUR Tav.

[idsfantasy]

I'm sorry if you've gotten this kind of info already, but one of the points you used in that video about Burntrap/Glitchtrap being Afton was him saying "I always come back," which you claim is something the Mimic wouldn't know, but it did know that. Fnaf 6 is shown to be a game in universe just like the rest of them.

Glitchtrap is likely a different branch of the Mimic1 code specifically designated for copying William long term.

There's also a line in Special Delivery. Luis says that Vanessa searched up "How to induce compliance in human subjects" which not only implies that what's possessing her isn't human in any way, but it's something that William would never need to do given that he's a master manipulator.

As for the memory plushies, those likely either come from the Mimic giving you the data it got about them from the VR game, or it's Glitchtrap giving you your own memories that you lost to place you in a vulnerable position given that those memories are likely traumatic ones.

We saw how Afton died anyway, his Agony and Remnant was cleansed by the Puppet in Fazbear's Fright's. There would be nothing left to bring him back. The Princess is going after the monster copying the murderer, not the murderer himself.

Also I'm like 90% sure that the devs of Security Breach thought that Burntrap was supposed to be Afton. I recall Baz saying once when he met Scott at the fnaf movie set that there was a miscommunication involving one of the games endings.

Sorry if this is a mess. Just thought all this was worth pointing out. Have a good one.

The video for those interested:

I don't think that Mimic was plugged into Pizzeria Simulator like it theoretically would have been into Help Wanted. It's possible I guess, but I still think it doesn't make sense for it to latch onto that line, or know what William heard in UCN.

When would that designation have been made and by whom? It wouldn't have been for Help Wanted based on Tape Girl's descriptions nor Mr. Burrows's.

Technically there are other things you can try to induce compliance in. A dog or other pet for example. "Human subjects" just specifies the search. Not to mention, it wouldn't necessarily be literally Glitchtrap doing the searching. Vanessa was talking to computers in AR, and we hear her talking to Glitchtrap in the og HW. He manipulated her mind to make her listen to him, but I think that was more Vanessa looking something up in order to do what Glitchtrap asked her to.

The unused lines specifically refer to the memories as belonging to "it", not the player, so I doubt that would be the case, and where in the VR game would it have specifically gotten the data for all 5 MCI kids and Charlie? Why would they be called its memories if they weren't actually Glitchtrap's memories. Who's code remains if the "his code" isn't William's?

If you're referring to William getting dumped in the lake at the end of the Frights epilogues, there are quite a few reasons I think Frights and Stitchline are a separate continuity from the game timeline. Why would the Princess be around to find out about a copycat and care? He's not the one who she's mad at in that case.

I personally recall a misquote/misattribution of some sort that spread around on that topic. I'll need the timestamped video to confirm that preferably, but in any case, I highly doubt Scott didn't even glance at Burntrap's design before release to notice that something was wrong, and as I mentioned in my video, if Steel Wool was trying to correct things and connect the Mimic to Burntrap, they would have at least made the two have more visual connection than a hand that isn't even actually identical and was already reused from a nightmare animatronic.

While I see where you're coming from, I don't think any of those points negate the evidence I have in the video that you didn't address, though the video was long so I understand why you wouldn't bring it all up. Either way though, I personally think it makes a lot more sense from both an evidence, narrative, and storytelling perspective for Burntrap to be William. Totally cool if you believe differently though! I hope you have a good day as well :D

[n30nwrites]

Bring Me To Life (Prologue)

Summary: Against all odds, you've survived. Having graduated high school and moved out of your Parent's place, your sibling decides to join you for the summer, and your first stop is Santa Cruz in California, you had always wanted to live there anyways so why not now that you're experiencing freedom? One problem: This doesn't look like the 21st century, instead it looks like a scene from your favorite movie, in fact it looks exactly like your favorite movie.

How are you meant to survive in the murder capital of the world? With vampires of all things, and your sibling hates this movie.

a/n: prologue for this fanfic, this will also be on AO3 and wattpad. Preface for this, fuck Max :}

Reader: Male Reader, uses Y/N, third person.

Oc uses they/she pronouns. Will be using both, Y/n refers to them as both sibling and sister, which is okay

Fandom: The Lost Boys

Pairing(s): Michael Emerson x Reader, Paul x Reader, Dwayne x Reader, Marko x Reader, David x Reader, Sam Emerson x Nonbinary! Oc, Edgar Frog x Nonbinary! Oc, Alan Frog x Nonbinary! Oc,

It was one thing moving the United States to California by yourself, it was another thing bringing your 15-year-old sibling with you, not to live with you, but to stay just until summer was over and school was starting again, your parents believed it would help with their 'rebellious streak'. That streak being that they just don't care enough to do class work and keep staying up all night playing video games, therefore they fall asleep in class.

Nik had a firm belief in changing the radio whenever any song that they didn't like came on, and you had a firm belief that your sibling needed to shut up because you liked your music and if you had to drive without some good tunes you would probably turn into the next psycho on the news.

You two did listen to similar music, but for this trip it was specifically 80s and 90s songs that you shouted loudly, windows were rolled down because the air conditioner in your car didn't work. It was small and shitty and cost a year of pay, thankfully your parents were there to let you live rent free. One of the few things you could be thankful for.

"Do you know how to be quiet?" Your sibling groaned, their jacket wrapped around their body despite how hot it was, "Put on Hozier, or Doja, hell I'll even take Taylor Swift over this... What is this shit?"

'Cry little sister'

"I know damn well you aren't talking to me about my music taste-"

'Thou shall not fall'

"What's wrong with mine?"

Come, come to your brother

"It's literally only tiktok songs, half of them aren't even good."

'Thou shall not die'

"At least I don't say 'They sung this on Glee'"

'Unchain me, sister'

"Every hot, mentally ill, gay person went through a Glee faze."

Thou shall not fear

"I didn't"

'Love is with your brother'

"That's why I said hot."

'Thou shall not kill'

You quickly stuck your tongue out in a childish way, before looking back into the road, ignoring your sibling who mumbled and repeated your words. "Theres a reason we're heading to Santa Cruz. Found a nice place right near the beach so we can-"

"Sleep all day, and party all night. I know, you've said it hundreds of times." Nik had heard the phrase from you so many times, you had tried to show them your favorite movie, even almost tricked them into it, but they were quick to leave the room. They simply hated it because you loved it, something you were forced to accept about them.

The car ride became silent as you got closer, to fill it, Nik had turned up the radio as it switched to a different song.

"Finally some MJ." The beat of Billie Jean came in, causing you to start tapping your hands to it as your merged.

"She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene" The two of you belted the lyrics, switching over the 80s playlist to one consistently of Michael Jackson. "I said don't mind, but what do you mean, I am the one" you shook your head, "Who will dance" you turned to your sibling and sung the words to them before turning back, repeating it each time you sung, "on the floor" again "in the round?" and then turned back, "She said I am the one, who will dance on the floor in the round"

The house that you bought with a loan wasn't the biggest, at least not compared to your parents house. Two bedrooms, One master and One guest, and 1 in a half bathrooms. The half bathroom was connected to the master bedroom, which Nik tried to get but was quickly locked out. They would be staying in the guest room, while you set it up they would help. They were also supposed to attempt to find a job this summer, as their parents wanted Nik to learn some responsibility. 

"Okay, change outfits, shower if you need to! We are going to the beach!" You were excited, thrumming almost. You felt as if you belonged.

"I'm tired."

"Party all night!" You yelled, grabbing a suit case filled with your clothes. The two of you didn't have a lot. A few suitcases filled with clothes, and then a few boxes for the rooms. You didn't even have mattresses yet.

"Let's just sleep a bit." A nap did sound good, you didn't have the best sleep due to the anxiety about the drive.

"Fine, a nap! I'm setting an alarm." Nik went into your room, both of you grabbing the blankets and laying them on the floor, setting up some pillows and collapsing as soon as you could.

Instead of waking up to your alarm, you woke up to Nik shaking your shoulder, harsh rain hitting the window and the house was shaking.

"The doors are opening."

You stood up quick, running out of the bedroom to the backdoor refusing to close. You pushed against it but it quickly fell open, so you held the door. "Grab the heavy boxes." Nik followed through, pushing against the doors as lightning flashed. "It wasn't supposed to storm."

"Don't they get Hurricanes here." A siren went off, "Well-"

"Not another tornado." You groaned. You had your fair shair of them, being where your from. "We need to grab our shit, head to the basement."

The house shook again, you two grabbed your phones and chargers, rushing down into the basement that still had cobwebs. Nik almost ran upstairs at the sight of them, claiming they would rather take their chance with the tornado. You had to basically pulled them down as you two sat in the basement, the house shook as you two fell to the ground, hitting your heads.

Your eyes rolled back, your vision turns black as your body hits the ground. Your siblings hand lays against yours as their body falls onto you, and in that moment, you had gone through the impossible.

[biohazard-4ever]

Hey, would you mind doing an analysis of Leon and Ashley's relationship from the beginning of the game to the end? Just like how his attitude towards her changed throughout the game. It's just that some people came up with a new gimmick called "he did it for the money" and also "he treated her so well only because she was the president's daughter."

Well, Ashley and Leon as a ship is not my particular OTP. But I also happen to like the ship.

But overall, I don't think I'm the most qualified person to go through this with you. As I genuinely think the cutscenes between Leon and Ashley and their interaction is really up to each one to decide for themselves how to read it.

So, overall, I'm just going to talk about FACTS. And that means: Talk about LEON as a character.

First of all: To say Leon does what he does for: "money" is a key element the person doesn't know SHIT about how Capcom works with Leon.

Leon is a caring person, a peoples-lover and defender. My friend who is starting the franchise THIS YEAR is having a better reading about Leon's character than 90% of the fandom at this point (he has played only RE0, RE1, RE2Remake and RE6 Leon's story)

Ashley being the president's daughter - or not; the treatment would have been the exact same. Simply because it is LEON we are talking about, like...? Hello?

Leon cares. Because he also cared about Marvin, he also cared about Kendo, he cared about Claire, he cared About Ada, he cared about Sherry, he cared about Elliot... It is LEON. Leon cares about people.

The people he met in Raccoon City and lost in Raccoon City are still in his mind constantly as well shown by RE4Remake intro.

Ashley can not be one more victim. Not on his watch. Not if he can help. Ashley means... A lot to Leon.

Not speaking romantically right now, but speaking as him finally feeling like his existence made the difference in someone's life. Without him, Ashley would've been dead by now. Many lives would've been lost.

And Leon does not dwell well with the loss of lives...

Through and through. Leon cares about Ashley because she is a human being. She has emotions. She has feelings.

Claire is not Leon's responsibility or job. But he very much cares about her well-being. Why? Because she is Human. She is his friend. She matters to him.

When Ashley was crying because she lost control of herself to Saddler and hurt Leon -, he decided to approach her, calm her, reassure her they'll be fine. SHE will be fine. That was not part of his job. He could have just held her by her wrist and pulled her off of the couch, forcing her to keep up. Barely aknowledge her comments, not entertain her with his insights and opinions.

But that is not Leon.

Leon is a protector, having someone that needs him is not a burden, it is almost an enrichment to him. Helping people, that is why he joined the force in the R.P.D where the "bizarre murderers" were happening every day.

Leon will jump into the water to punch a shark that is attacking someone. (and get himself killed or lose an arm/leg)

Leon will hug-immobilize a raging unknow dog to protect a kid from getting hurt.

Leon will save Ashley first, and leave himself to die. She is his priority -, he wants to get her home.

Not because this is his job -, but because he is LEON SCOTT KENNEDY.

[ultraericthered]

Three cases where the Sailor Moon 90's anime totally went against the point of what Naoko Takeuchi's manga. One case I like, one I'm mixed about, and one I loathe with every fiber of my being.

Black Lady in R: I already mentioned the thing with Luna-P in another post, but even beyond that one factor, the way Black Lady behaves in the anime compared to how she did in the manga & Crystal has a huge core difference - Takeuchi's Black Lady put her childish ways completely behind her, while Toei's Black Lady did not. The entire point of Chibi Usa's corruption into Black Lady is that it's the dark extreme end point of why she took the Silver Crystal to begin with: she wanted to stop being treated like a child and instead be a mature grown-up lady like her mother. Which is why she punted Luna-P away when it came back for her, and also why she...well, did the thing she did with her daddy Mamoru. But in the R anime, Black Lady is a Psychopathic Womanchild who still carries about her that sense of child-like mischief, still loves games and trickery, still uses Luna-P and does stuff like weaponize playing badminton against the Sailor Senshi, and is more prone to lashing out at her former family and friends in tantrums. She feels like a kid in an older girl's body, and....I honestly really dig that. 'Cause now it's less that this is Chibi Usa's ideal of a grown-up and more like this is how Chibi Usa would turn out if she was raised by a different family - the Black Moon Clan in this case. As Rubeus said, "love does not exist in the Black Moon Clan", and thanks to Wiseman's mental manipulation and the influence of the Malefic Black Crystal, Black Lady believes that love exists in no family, including her original one, so she might as well just live for herself, embrace the darkness and have fun with it. And this also ties into how she's turned back to the light by the family she'd been decieved into rejecting. It's a different but just as nuanced and interesting take on the character and her time in the story.

Professor Tomoe in S: I'm mixed on this because it works on one end but not at all on another. On the end of Souichi's character itself, the change comes off perfectly. We got to know and like the professor through all the little quirks, eccentricities and humanizing personality traits displayed by Germatoid!Tomoe throughout the season, so when it's revealed that he once was a good man who truly does love his daughter and had turned to extremes to protect her but is now remorseful for what he'd ended up bringing about, it checked out. It's completely against the point of Takeuchi's Tomoe, an irredeemable monster who was never a truly caring, loving father to Hotaru and who willingly threw away his humanity in pursuit of godhood, but it works on its own merits. But on the end of the Outer Senshi, this change works in tandem with their own misues and Flanderization to derail so much about their part in all this. In Takeuchi's narrative, Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna end up becoming Hotaru's real family, as her father had never been a good parent to her. It's important to Hotaru's story that she gets another chance at life to be raised by people who actually love and care about her, and it's important to the other three Outers as a show of growth, how they accept to become the guardians of the girl they know to be the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn, who they'd been fearful of and set to kill beforehand. In S? Haruka and Michiru want to murder Hotaru for completely inane and unsympathetic reasons, do not gain custody of Hotaru since Souichi is alive and around to raise her up himself, and when they do take Hotaru off Souichi's hands for a time in Stars, they prove how much worse off with them Hotaru is because they fucking get her killed by Sailor Galaxia! Moreover, it robs Haruka and Michiru of yet another chance to have an argument with some ideological high ground that even Usagi ends up having to cede to, as in the manga and Crystal Usagi does not want to take any life that is or was human, but Tomoe is too far gone into inhumanity and end up needing to die by her hand just as Uranus and Neptune said. By having him alive and redeemed, Usagi doesn't need to make any hard decisions. and Haruka and Michiru end up not being right about one single thing by the end. And lastly, nothing more is done with Souichi in Stars anyway, so I have to wonder if maybe they should've gone the direction Sera Myu went and had Pharaoh 90 kill the man.

Queen Nehelenia in Stars: I had plenty of words to spare about why Nehelenia in SuperS worked so well. She was still every bit the grim and malicious fairy tale-style villain, still the darkness threatening the light of Elysian, still tied directly to Zirconia and fixated on her own beauty, and still evil to the core beyond any hope of redemption. The Nehelenia who showed up for the first six episode arc of Stars was exactly none of those things. She's not deep, she's not interesting, she's not enjoyable to watch, and she's barely a thing like the villain from Takeuchi's Dream Arc save for the design and the aesthetics of mirrors and nightmares. She's just some raging, vengeful hater who fixates on her "loneliness" (y'know, the thing she willingly chose for herself so long as it meant she kept her beauty?) over her beauty, has a sudden hate boner for Usagi that's strong enough to break her free from her mirror because she despises people who love themselves and who love others because she was never truly loved and never truly loved herself in her sad lonely childhood, and said childhood apparently so deeply effecting and so heartbreaking that it renders her deserving of friendship and a chance to start over in a better life where she can be loved and happy. The larger plans she had in SuperS to completely corrupt Elysian, make Earth into a new Dead Moon, and take over the universe with the Golden Crystal's power? Nonexistent now, her only goal in life is to hurt Usagi. Her old lady form? Never seen again, though that's logically what she'd turn back into once out of the mirror. Those Zirconias she could create? Never creates another one. And by pushing her as a personal enemy for Usagi in particular, the writers on Stars inadvertedly made her more like Sailor Galaxia, the very villain who then became that season's Big Bad! Living in loneliness and envying Usagi for the better life she had? The whole "wanting to completely break Usagi" thing? Cursing Mamoru and turning him into a puppet? Wiping Chibi Usa from existence to make Usagi suffer and piss her off? Those were all Galaxia's things! Giving them to Nehelenia instead limited what Galaxia could actually do as an active force for evil other than slapping on and removing bracelets and boom-killing all the Sailor Senshi until it was time to fight Sailor Moon to the death. And sweet Sailor Comos, that forced, bullshit ending. Much like Prince Dimande before her, Nehelenia was not set up as a redeemable villain prior to this moment, not even in Stars itself, and to give the pretense of redemption and a happily ever after to one of the Big Bads who was spawned from Chaos in the manga...it just doesn't feel right! So nothing about this deviation worked. It really feels like a bad dream.

[thepurplewombat]

For the violence ask game, can I request your answers to numbers 3, 10, 14, 21 and 22?

ooooh lovely choices here!

3: screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

Oh, god, there are so many. But I think the worst and most frustrating ones are related to Jin Guangyao and Mo Xuanyu. I've seen a number of people say things about the whole thing being a lie from JGY's end to discredit MXY, and I've even seen some that called JGY a groomer, and tbh, it makes me sick on multiple levels. Allow me to explain:

So first of all, denying that MXY really did what he was kicked out of JLT for completely ignores some of the only things that we know about him from his own words (filtered through WWX of course, but isn't everything?). On Page 19 of Volume 1, WWX is reading MXY's demented scribblings and comes across the part where he is talking about having been kicked out of JLT. It is never mentioned that he feels resentment for this, or that it was all a lie - and if there is anywhere that it would say outright that MXY was angry because he was falsely accused, wouldn't it be in the private ramblings hidden in his own room?

Second of all, if JGY had really fabricated rumors that MXY had harassed him in order to get him kicked out, he would have had his own wound on WWX's arm. Which, let me be clear, he does not. We're talking novel canon here, and in the novel, all the wounds close once the Mo family are dead.

Third of all, I find it sickening because it is part of a pattern of placing JGY at fault for sexual and other violence committed against him. He was harassed by his own brother to the point of forcing him to expel him from the clan, he ended up married to his own sister - neither of those were his fault, but people tend to look at these situations and have just the most absolutely dumpster-fire rancid takes, like JGY committing sexual assault against Qin Su (he didn't - once he knew about their relationship he never slept with her again, and while yes, he should have told her the truth about why, his reasoning is completely understandable), or being into incest etc.

Actually also a lot of takes wrt JGY and sex are pretty rancid, but I think the MXY thing is the worst, and it keeps coming up and make me want to set the whole tag on fucking fire.

10 - worst part of fanon

There are a lot of fanon takes that annoy me - WWX is good at diplomacy, NMJ is a fluffy cuddlebear, LXC is a himbo, but none of them quite make me want to Hulk Out as bad as fanon JGY, who is essentially just JGS in a funny hat.

You want an uncomplicatedly and unrepentantly evil villain to pin your hate on? JGS is right there.

You want a rapist who never shows an ounce of regret? JGS is right there.

You want a monster who ordered human experimentation with resentful energy to be done? JGS is right there.

You want the author of all of WWX's post-Sunshot misery? Jin Guangshan is RIGHT FUCKING THERE!

But no, we're gonna go ahead and pin all of JGY's father's crimes on him.

ugh.

14 -that one thing you see in fics all the time

oh god, if I could have a penny for every time I have seen surprise villainYao in a fic tagged with xiyao I would be so rich. It's especially frustrating when it's in a modern AU, when a lot of the pressures that caused JGY to do the shit he did just didn't exist. With a lot of modern AUs you can't even say 'cool motive, still murder' (a valid take on JGY tbh) because 90% of the time he doesn't even have a motive? He's just out there killing people for shits and giggles and I'm like, 'You're thinking of Xue Yang. This isn't JGY, this is Xue Yang in a funny goddamn hat.'

21 - part of canon you think is overhyped

I've been sitting here for ten minutes trying to think of a specific part of canon that's overhyped and not just annoying to me personally, and I can't really think of anything? Like, there's this perception in fandom that LWJ is a loving and caring brother who did a lot for LXC, and that pisses me off because he is the worst didi in a work full of bad didis - JGY killed his elder brother, and still managed to not be as terrible a little brother as Lan 'abandon my brother who's just killed his best friend of twenty years with his own two hands to go fuck Wei Wuxian under a bush' Wangji. But that's annoying because it's wrong, not because it's overhyped, so I'm just gonna go with a big old 🤷‍♀️here.

22 - your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I mean, I don't think it's ignored necessarily, but I would love for more people to pay attention to the fact that WWX literally made Wen Chao eat his own flesh, and that was really gross and horrible but also very sexy of him.

Because like, a part of the appeal of WWX is that he is legitimately monstrous. He does absolutely monstrous things during the Sunshot campaign, and people are right to be afraid of this extremely powerful and unpredictable person who commands the goddamn dead. But WWX is like an example of how you can be a monster but also try to be a good person, and a lot of people strip a lot of the complexity out of him by making him a Manic Pixie Dream Necromancer who's like, a little quirky but ultimately cool, and no, fuck that noise.

Wei Wuxian was a monster. He became a monster in response to the pressures of the war and his massive pile of untreated PTSD, but he was so terrifying that for a moment while I was reading the rescue of the Wen, I wasn't sure that they were going to go with him. And I wouldn't have blamed them for a second because this is the man who nearly single-handedly destroyed their clan, slaughtered their friends and families, and then commanded their corpses to slaughter even more. That's fucked up and villain behaviour, and nobody would have blamed the Wen for preferring the ordinary human torture and death and murder over whatever Wei Wuxian might choose to do to them. At least once the guards killed you the torment was over.

But a monster isn't all he is. He tries to do the right thing, he tries to be good, and while it doesn't solve the situation, it does mean something. Wei Wuxian's story is the story of a man who covered himself in blood to save his own life and the lives of others, and then found out that sometimes you don't get to go home. Sometimes the blood doesn't wash off and you spend the rest of your days with the shadows of your past hanging over you.

But he still tried! He still tried, and in the very end of the story, he is free, and happy, and loved.

But removing his darkest moments takes so much away from the light at the end, renders it so much less meaningful without the contrast of his darkest times.

Thank you for playing, sorry that my answers are so damn long, but apparently I get wordy sometimes!

[skaruresonic]

Everytime I catch a glimpse of discussion within the Sonic fandom I feel like I'm going insane.

Speaking purely from my own experience, not too long ago practically every Sonic fan firmly believed that Sonic was an unfeeling hard boiled soldier/action man/dude bro who had zero concern for anything other than his personal amusement. Back then Sonic was "supposed to be" an unthinking action drone that only blows stuff up and runs around doing poses. And if you ever dared to imply that he'd do something sappy, than you would get labeled as a baby who can't handle "hardcore material" or something.

Flash forward to now and it seems like majority is convinced Sonic is a fluffy soft boy who would never hurt a fly and he sincerely prays every night that everyone gets a happy ending. including the people who've done nothing but cause pain. Also he's extremely emotional over everything and hurting on the inside or something. And if you think he should snap back at his enemies you're just an edgelord who doesn't understand anything.

What happened??? How did we go from one extreme to the other??? Why is it so hard for sonic fans to see the characters for what they are instead of making up nonsense???

And if you think he should snap back at his enemies you're just an edgelord who doesn't understand anything.

"So you want Sonic to murder his enemies in cold blood?"

"Where the hell did you get that from? I said Sonic doesn't care about Eggman's welfare and that his attitude seems to be 'if he dies, he dies.' Where did you get 'I want Punisher!Sonic' out of that lol"

Fandoms be fandoming. I personally saw a forum thread back in the day likening Modern Sonic to a soulless vehicle designed to get you from Point A to Point B, in contrast to Classic Sonic who had more "soul." There are always going to be people who think the new shift in direction is soulless, whatever that means.

The irony is, the reason the Adventure games were as comparatively dark as they were (YMMV on that, obviously) was because ST didn't like how cute and Mickey Mouse-ish Classic Sonic was becoming in the late '90s; they wanted to reintroduce, or rather retain, the rough-edged, "bad boy" side of his personality. Hence why they had Maekawa write for those games.

Cultural differences exacerbate these... well... differences in how we perceive Sonic as well. What the West sees as a "bad boy" and what Japan sees as a "bad boy" can be based on very divergent concepts. Kanemaru!Sonic's tendency to sprinkle Engrish sounds silly to Anglophones, for example, but in Japan it's a sign of his worldliness and his overall coolness.

Likewise, SoA!Sonic tends to use harsher language than SoJ!Sonic might use, such as saying strawberry shortcake "sucks" in a Twitter Takeover.

While I can't vouch for how Japanese Sonic fans view SoA!Sonic, to Anglophones, Games!Sonic seems like a squeaky-clean goodie two-shoes Gary-Stu. Which, again, ignores the cultural framework against which his character exists.

All that being said, Sonic is still quite a multifaceted character, even if he isn't the deepest or most fleshed-out in the cast. As a static character who represents an ideal and inspires positive change in others, he doesn't exactly need to be.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of overreductive takes with Shadow which attempt to boil him down to one or two traits at the expense of others, but I imagine it happens to Sonic quite a bit also. Despite being a static character, Sonic, like Shadow, has multiplicity of character. People really struggle with contending with that kind of variability. How he reacts to any given situation will change based on circumstance. Truth resists simplicity, which is antithetical to the kind of Declarations(tm) social media likes to make about the cast. Adding asterisks and footnotes risks diluting the impact of the message. So naturally, people are going to forgo context and nuance in favor of more digestible analyses, in addition to ignoring the games and just plain making shit up.

For instance: "Sonic's selfish" or "Sonic's selfless" is a false dichotomy. The answer is the Schroedinger's cat, both selfish and selfless until someone opens the box, maybe in a quantum state of both. To say one or the other is true ignores the spectrum and the circumstances in which Sonic expresses selfishness vs. selflessness. Sonic can be selfish sometimes, just as he can be selfless, but whether he is or is not depends on what he's doing at the moment and what provokes this reaction.

So on and so forth.

[scribe-cas]

okay, okay, i have a question about couteau. (every time i write his name i pray i've written this correctly)

so in response to my last ask you have described him as- *checks notes* "such an ass" and "downright bastard". but from his previous descriptions he seemed like a really chill guy. i mean yeah he does some murder here and there, but even here, those are usually assholes, so there's at least the tiniest bit of good intentions there.

ANYWAY yes. my question. i am curious about his personality. could you say something more about that?? is he an ass ass or is he just insufferable but in a /affectionate way?? i am intrigued

HKSKSKNANXDD

I love the fact that I bully him enough that you asked this-

(You did write his name correct btw good job-)

Okay so here is the thing. His level of ‘bastard’ depends entirely on who you are.

He is, at all times, a bastard (affectionate). And that’s only because I know what a snarky prick he can be /w love

Just for reference, here is some of my top tier Couteau content.

Couteau is one of my favorite characters to write, in the fact that he’s usually at least a little snarky, a little full of awful humor, and a lot of heart.

He’s a dangerous guy, I’ll give him that, and his one liners as he hauls tied up men off in the back of his car are not always perfect. (I say, knowing that they rarely ever are, but no one who isn’t getting toted off to be murdered knows this he does it on purpose so that the only people who know he’s bad at improvising are dead)

Couteau has a bit of an immortality complex. He’s gotten past his ‘humanity’ and has somewhat forgotten what it’s like to just be a person. He doesn’t consider himself human, and does his best to act like one anyways.

When really, all that’s changed is his perception of himself- and despite the fact that he can punch a man in the face without feeling any remorse, and can regularly stand the crushing guilt most of us would face if we had to cook up an actual, real person for dinner- he hasn’t escaped it at all. And you can tell he cares.

He’s very good at pretending nothing bothers him, and honestly, a lot of it doesn’t, because if you partake in anything long enough, it becomes normal. And he can make the best of whatever situation is handed to him if need be. However, he is also filled with a special kind of rage from having to ‘make due’ for so long, which comes out in unhealthy coping mechanisms (like murder.)

He’s an adrenaline junkie. He can catch most people in a lie from 20 yards away from nothing but a gut feeling. If given the chance, he’d definitely be a gambling addict, but he doesn’t ever indulge. He likes to play games, and more than that, loves to travel.

I’m- I’m not positive?? but I am 90% sure he’s got autism. He’s good at being social but only because he’s thoroughly studied it, practice by practice. It comes easily to him now, but in the way a script would. He’s sound sensitive. He has his routines and despite being a bit sporadic when it comes to choices, he tends to stick to them, especially in times of need. He’s got echolalia (he repeats sounds and words he’s heard that he likes, on impulse, for no reason.) along with a million other things. But i am too sleepy to write them all rightnow.

Couteau is intelligent, but not at all mature (unless it’ll benefit him in some way.), and manipulative, but to a point. He sees it as a means to an end.

However

On the other hand, he struggles with PTSD pretty badly. He copes with dissociation, which doesn’t help with that warped self image and thinking that nothing bothers him, along with the fact that he will sometimes ignore his own boundaries, leading to him and others getting hurt.

He’s got insomnia, a touch aversion, and used to struggle massively with eating. He’s fine with and used to it now, but 300 years ago when he was dropped down into hell? He couldn’t even speak due to the amount of pressure he was under.

He’s gotten very good at managing it, and keeping his breakdowns quiet, along with finding things that make it easier, such as downing a shot of bourbon on a really bad night, or having a few puffs of a cigarette that doesn’t bother his allergies before he has to take someone out. He copes mainly with a lot of fucked up humor, although very few know him well enough to hear the jokes.

But there’s still a part of him that never got that healing break down. His closure has never come.

His main motivation is to just continue his life, because his last one ended far too soon.

And he’s working to avoid someone he cares about. But is slowly finding that just because one is gone does not mean there isn’t room for more. :>

He’s morally grey, sometimes he has to kill an innocent, and it fucks him up on the inside, but he also escorts people home and keeps drunk parents away from their children and murders men who beat their wives.

He just. Kinda is.

If you ask him, he’ll say he’s a villain, because he enjoys bringing pain.

What you consider him is none of his business.

But one time, a little girl called him a hero, and he didn’t stick around to let her see him smile.

Hope this helps!

[brawlqueen]

WE STAN MIZUKI IN THIS HOUSE

GIRLIE DESERVES THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD

(her route in the og game made me so happy I WISH IT WAS THE CANON ROUTE)

I fully and completely agree ! A.ITSF is really special to me as uh, I think Fawn subjected a lot of you to that already ! Which makes me really happy. Her route is hands down my favorite thing in the entire series, and I was really able to learn more about her, learn how she truly felt, and really just how unimaginably bad she was suffering the entire game. And unlike the other routes, she had someone there for her, and she actually got her aphonia cured! Which should have been canon imho, and yes I agree that the aspects of it aside from the unsolved mysteries of everything, all the relationship / familial aspects definitely should have transferred in the Resolution route.

Transferring Mizu.ki's bond with D.ate and Ai.ba. Because most of the game aside for when she is literally at her limit or her friends, who even then as much as I adore them, sideline her quite a bit, it's hard to tell if she's even cared about at all aside from Hi.tomi, who answers her NILE message immediately. People's affection for her in the game is very ..conditional ? Depending on the route. It's really sad in hindsight since she's the epicenter of the case, being the victim's daughter in many ways she fills that role. And it's no bearing or me not liking any cast member. I just wish Mi.zuki wasn't alone 90 percent of the time. She doesn't want to be, and A.mame says that in AI1, she even has to sleep in the same bed as her because the poor girl is tossing and turning in bed and keeps bouncing around who to stay with so she isn't alone in the house. Because she's terrified and putting up a front with all these back to back murders.

I had and still kinda do had so much anxiety making this post because it isn't a slam on any of the cast, anyone who talks to me knows there's very, very few characters I don't like. Pretty much the entire cast are all dear to me, but none so dear as Mi.zuki, to the point she became my favorite female character. It's why she's so important to me. Yes, A.INI is fun and has some upgrades in graphics and funny moments, and like before, I really did love Mi.zuki and Ai.ba hanging out, but it's nowhere near as good, and because it makes me so mad, is also kind of useful?

Because I can instead of stewing about it, basically do whatever I want to do with her at 18. Which I've put in that, (thank you sm for reading it UG! ) I can expand her and give her what she just isn't getting, in my opinion, from the series itself. Honestly Miz.uki really, really needs stability and people that love her. I shouldn't have to play a route for her to only get that love, and well, the second game speaks for itself on how little she was cared for.

So I'm just going to be fully divergent I think. I'm happy to meet people halfway on certain plot points or scenes or moments but, I really want to just focus on giving justice to Mi.zuki as best I can, and give her all the things she's craving and deserves, like love, stability, and not being sidelined or just 'there' to the other characters which...still doesn't really make much sense to me.

But yeah thank you so much! Mi.zuki stans rise I guess, haha. She just deserved so much better, so I'm hopeful my ideas for her that I'll be working on will be helpful! I'll just have to pick and choose things.

Oh, and we should interact sometime! Supernatural people have to stick together. (well, Mi.zuki is downright supernatural with all that strength and power, imho! ) I'd love to plot with you or just chat, and I'm really happy you're following me! Thanks a ton for this friend!

[vespersbelladonnakiss]

beginning the oc introductions, you know them, you love them (derogatorily), you hate them (affectionately), it'ss

VESPERRRRRRRR

pronouns: they/them sexual and romantic orientation: bisexual aromantic (i have so many bi aro ocs aroallos are the coolest) age: 20 source: D&D game "War in Heaven"

Famously (totally, i know y'all care so much) depicted in both my profile picture and username, Vesper is a stupid bitch, which is to say they are actually rather smart, just horrible at communicating and probably barely passed elementary school. But, they do make good decisions, at least better than their party members, who think it's a good idea to get on the bad side of every single god or even remotely powerful entity we meet. A thief by trade and an absolute failure in 90% of social interactions, this lying asshole was hired by one Lady Sergia Angela to find the person murdering magic users around the city, and it only went downhill from there. It started with five relatively incompetent private investigators tracking down one fucked up murderer to only now four of these five facing the end of the world and becoming known as the Godslayers, though they did only murder one god, they just did it three times. Through these horrors, Vesper met the completely lovely goddess of Justice, Nielené, who was secretly not very lovely and ended up abusing Vesper once they displayed their horrible communication skills and didn't tell the party the important lore information that she gave them. At one point, she even stole control of Vesper's vocal chords to say slurs. But that didn't stop our little rat (canon phrase used to refer to them) from desperately wanting her approval, ending in Vesper freeing her from the sword she had been trapped in and then betraying her with the group. They delivered her the artefacts she needed to be freed and do you know what they got in response? A nod. Not even a fucking thank you, just a nod. Since then, Vesper has continued having shit communication skills with their companion and lies constantly, especially about that one time they freed one of Nielené's angels, but we don't talk about that, they just went on a walk. Maybe the group would know more about Vesper and their current thought process if THEY tried talking to them, because it's not like Vesper is the kind of person to go around sharing their personal shit, because they fucking wouldn't. Maybe they'd know why Vesper started stealing, why Vesper took the job from Sergia despite being a god awful private investigator, why Vesper lies, and maybe they'd even actually open up about their trauma and what exactly happened with Nielené. But it's not like anyone's going to do that, so I can't actually talk about all that in this post.

[ohsnapitzlovehacker]

I played this game while a ton of great and not great things were happening in my life, so this review will be 90% vibes and 10% actual critical thoughts.

The great

It’s always awesome when we get gender of choice books and the story allows for it, and while I mostly play female with she/her pronouns MCs (because I’ve played MORE than enough games with male he/him characters in my life) yay for inclusive options!

The (Black) MC sprites: BRO I COULDN’T DECDIDE ON A DESIGN AT FIRST IT WAS STRESSFUL BUT GREAT SKGJJHJFG. I loved the hair options too, seeing as most previous books don’t seem to see the point in offering more than one afro-textured style lol. 

MC themselves: Yeah, I like YA stories at my big age 🤷🏽‍♀️ But I really love this MC just for their wit, personality (which we could kind of influence through dialogue choices) and how they sound their age. The last part sounds pointless but trust me, I’m sick of teen characters sounded older and mature for no reason other than to appeal to adult audiences...

The LIs/Sexuality (because I ended up talking about both so they’re combined!): So I quickly decided that I wouldn’t pursue Donovan (grumpy and soft and sweet as he was LOL) but Tyler, Donovan, and Stevie ALL have my heart in the palm of their hands!!!! And the individual dynamics they have with MC made it so easy for me to replay chapters sometimes 3 or 4 (or 5 🥲) times JUST to capture all the different dialogue changes! And lemme tell you, it was exhausting and 100% worth it. Thank you so much writer team for your efforts!

Side note but playing as an enby or male MC while romancing Tyler also gave different dialogue (as most ppl playing the book knew probably). Y’all that was a treat to see sexuality acknowledged in this book. Also also also, with all the biphobia STILL running rampant in the world, it was super nice to have Stevie, Donovan, and Tyler (determinant) have their bisexuality specifically mentioned, and therefore make it clear they weren’t player-sexual. 

(Hell even with Gabbie!!! Not that she was clear on her labels BUT she fell under the LGBT umbrella and that was amazing to see someone who was still figuring herself out. And Joanna and her side plot?? God it was a bit painful but I also think it was handled with the care it needed. I’m so glad she was able to get out of her parents’ home and cut ties with them.)

Also confirming in chapter 16 that Stevie has been in a poly relationship before, hey y’all hey y’all wanting good rep, did y’all peep that?? I hope y’all did! (though I figure probably not because it’s a teen book and I haven’t been checking the tags but I don’t think much of the fandom was checking for this book 🥲) 

The mystery/plot: A bit of this will spill into ‘the meh’, but as someone who is painfully dense when it comes to guessing mysteries and is often along for the ride, for the most part, I truly enjoyed the story! It was definitely closer to Ride or Die than HSS/CA or M2FL in terms of tone, but obviously I didn’t mind it. We were dealing with a murder after all...

Side characters: Brett made my blood boil!!! The track team can catch these hands!! Perdita I love your sibling relationship with MC to the point of tears!!! Millie you had me going for a HOT minute but I guess you was alright in the end!!!

And on and on and on... Yeah, the side characters helped add depth and weight to the story even when we focused on the main “Scooby Squad” 😂

The meh

~some of these are nitpicky, some of these are actual concerns, also I’m running out of steam so this section will be short~

masc MC body clothing choices: it never fails, I look at some of the outfit options and I wanna cry. And then I’m wondering if I should restart with a femme MC just to not look a hot mess 🤧 the struggle y’all

Perdita’s disappearance: You have to obtain all the clues to get the bittersweet bonus scene in the end, so it actually hurts a little bit to think about what you’re missing if you don’t. That being said, I keep flip flopping between if I’m satisfied with the ending or if it still grates on my soul and my nerves 😂 On one hand, there really are mysteries out there that don’t get solved, and family hurts that never heal. And we do get justice for Gabbie. 

On the other hand, we spend time (and diamonds!) on little clues here and there on our fictional sister and in the end, it adds up to smoke and mirrors. There is no true closure. MC can either say they won’t stop looking or they will forgive and let go. And I don’t have the words to articulate why this ending leaves me so cold, but I just know that I’m not a huge fan of it. 

I suspect a sequel would be in the works (where maybe we do get answer about our sister and the case that took her) but they were cut and this tweet affirms my suspicions (from one of the MAH writers)

https://twitter.com/catherinevalman/status/1588628334619287553

The killer: ...I ain’t gonna lie, I was kinda disappointed /confused that April was the killer? Like it made sense ( I guess) but it didn’t?? Again, don’t have the words to articulate why I feel this, but just know I feel it. I don’t want to call it lazy writing, because I don’t believe it’s that, but it maybe this decision falls a bit on the weaker side??? I don’t know. (also, not sure how I feel about villainizing the disabled person...? ALSO what was that crap about the clue on ‘the patients of the murder drug skewing older’??? did we just throw that out so we could frame April?? Ugh, y’all I don’t knowwww.)

One last thing, I was certainly seeing a bit of rage having this lil white girl coming after my Black boy with such vitriol and false sense of vengeance. I was as the kids say, triggered. Even with the chapter disclaimer. AND THE YT TEARS SHE SHED?!?!?!? girl stop embarrassing yourself, it’s giving Amy Dunne from Gone Girl (and we do not have enough time to get into my complicated beef with that character aHA)

Final things

Usually, a big sign of how much I love a book and hold it in high esteem is the replayability. I truly believe this book has high replayability (especially if you weren’t a NUT like me and replayed individual chapters a bunch of times ahaha)

So. I love this book and its potential for me to start a new game. But for now, I crave fluff because I’ve got enough angst and strife to deal with right now 😂

[dmclemblems]

Kinda weird how the devs said "if the characters feel ooc we meant for it to feel that way" when actually applies to... so few characters? Like, even Caspar who also seems different from how he usually is, he's actually basically just like he is in 3H's CF route (bloodthirsty, always itching to fight, not really caring about justice more than he does being allowed to throw a punch, etc.). Pretty much everyone in the game really do feel like "this is what they'd be like without Garreg Mach/Byleth" - which is to say, most of their base personalities and ideals are kept intact, and it's only the TRAJECTORY of those personalities and ideals that are changed. Which makes sense, because Byleth and Garreg Mach didn't, like, CREATE these characters, only LED their characters down a certain path.

It REALLY IS only Claude who feels outright "different" from his 3H counterpart. His personality is changed (not as confident, not curious at all, puts innocents in danger) and his ideals aren't really the same either (from "wanting togetherness through openness" to "what if I just expand my influence lol"), even though neither of those things were really influenced by either Byleth or Garreg Mach? Or at least not to the extent Hopes tries to sell. So Claude's the only character that feels "different;" Claude, the character whose writing is, not-so-coincidentally enough, the BIGGEST issue like 90% of players have with the game as a whole.

So ngl, call me a tin-foil hat wearer, but it really DOES feel like the devs only said that to cover their asses about SPECIFICALLY their writing wrt Claude. Like you and others have done, all that needs to be done to show that 3H Claude and Hopes Claude aren't congruent versions of the same character is... a side-by-side comparison, and nothing else. There's no way the writers of Hopes didn't catch that, unless they really ARE that incompetent.

I dunno lol, maybe I'm just hoping that the writers have SOME sort of recognition of how massively they messed up Claude's character and are just trying to say whatever they can to cover it up. Genuinely can't believe anyone other than Edellygard fans (or "Claude fans" that never actually liked how Claude acted in 3H) can look at Hopes Claude and say "yup, that's Claude being in character."

I’ve been feeling like the reason they did this with Claude is because they figured both Dimitri and Edelgard had their “did not great things” arc in Houses but Claude didn’t. It’s like they tried to do that so that all of them had points in their stories where they did crappy things, but they just went too far for Claude’s story. Part of what I particularly don’t like is that it’s just a mess. With how you have characters telling him he’s wrong over and over but then everyone being pumped to fight Faerghus, it’s like they couldn’t decide if they wanted the characters to be good or bad.

Generally the only consistent character was Lorenz, and even he sometimes had instances of just... not seeming to care. Not to say he was written poorly, because this game did amazing for him, but when they were in battle he behaved like they were in any old battle at war against the Empire and not invading an innocent country. Other than that he’s the only one I found was pretty much the same all around and/or not one note about everything (ex. Raphael not caring that they’re murdering all these people as long as he gets to punch people with his muscles and eat later, literally not caring at all whatsoever about the lives they’re taking and behaving like they’re not even people but just training dummies).

While overall some of them feel the same at their core like Raphael and Caspar, I can’t help but feel that many of them were turned very one note. Hilda got lucky and got a lot more personality, but she still fell into the category of not really giving a shit about anyone but her immediate allies. Hell, she didn’t even remember that it was Felix who came from Fraldarius, so she obviously didn’t care about her classmates who weren’t in the GD. So, it’s not to say personalities got changed, but more what they stand for and their morals got warped. I do agree that most players take issue specifically with GW/Claude, and I know some took issue with SB (for Edelgard too and not just Claude/the Alliance). The only time Claude was actually Claude was in AG, and even then the game kept pushing the concept that Claude was tricking them or planning to backstab them through almost every main character’s opinion. It was just out of place and thrown in as a nod to the other routes instead of actually making sense.

I wouldn’t mind if this was like a... Claude villain arc or something where he went down the wrong path and became unrecognizable, but the narrative tries to say it’s all a good thing and that he’s doing things that will benefit Fodlan. Even if he himself was genuinely convinced of that and still was within the boundaries of a villain arc that would be fine, but the rest of the narrative would have to convince us that the people around him aren’t on board. Despite that so many playable characters and even NPCs think what they’re doing is wrong, everyone stays with Claude and insists they’ll be there for him to the end, yadda yadda.

What I would’ve liked in GW is if Lorenz defected to the Kingdom and a handful of other characters did too. Especially Yuri for example, who is very devout, doesn’t agree with what they’re doing, thinks they’re cruel (specifically, that Claude is vicious if you recruit Ashe for making Ashe fight his own allies and friends which would be a very strong term to use if he didn’t really feel that way), and comes from the Kingdom as well as has family and allies/friends in the Kingdom. Hapi was pretty, er, unhapi (im sorry don’t unfollow me for my sins) too in GW and also came from the Kingdom iirc, and if Yuri left I think she’d be on board with him.

Another interested thing they could’ve done is have Raphael be upset and decide to stop fighting because it doesn’t seem beneficial to the Alliance and could in turn affect his sister if the Kingdom ends up harboring a grudge and eventually striking at them in return. I think Houses Raphael would also be pretty against invasion, because he never struck as the type was who just... all muscle, totally stupid and didn’t care about other people’s lives/livelihoods. Unfortunately in this game Raphael doesn’t care one wit about a single thing in the entire world except his sister, his muscles and food. Houses Raphael at least had a bit more substance going for him.

Also, if Lorenz left I think Ignatz would too since he’s a Gloucester knight.  Marianne could also stop fighting because she’s admitted in GW that she doesn’t think Rhea is evil, and she clearly doesn’t agree with invasion. That would leave Claude with, close ally wise, Hilda, Holst, Leonie, Lysithea, and Shez (and Judith if she survives, not counting Nader since he’s kinda... on and off, here and there). Not sure what Balthus would do if he was stuck choosing between Holst and Yuri tbh, but that would have been an excellent story to follow for him, especially since his story is usually extremely limited to gambling, fighting/training, and his childhood with Holst. Actually giving other characters conflict and having to question what they’re doing because they have friends splitting up and being forced to choose sides could’ve been a much better addition to the story than actually going through with fighting Rhea in the end.

After that I think GW could’ve had a route split, where Claude either fixes his shit depending on your choices and things get better so his allies return and continue to fight with him, while understandably being cautious and scrutinizing him, or you get a bad ending where Claude doesn’t get better. In that situation I think you’d probably be fighting your old allies (Lorenz and co) and probably having to kill them. Claude would either continue fighting to get to Rhea, having to choose between his goal of killing her by killing his friends in the process who didn’t agree with his invasion of the Kingdom (or killing so many people form the Church just to specifically get to Rhea, because his issue seemed largely with her and not the entirety clergy but he did kill tons of them because of his issues with Rhea), or stopping his fight and realizing just how many people he’s gotten killed when it wasn’t necessary.

Unfortunately it seems like Claude wouldn’t have understood how far his actions were going unless people left, and... that’s kinda what should’ve happened.

[quoteoftheweekblog]

…

26/2/24 - CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

’ “My God! … what wouldn’t I give to get out of this hole of a town for a day or two!” ’ (Isherwood, 1999, p.156).

REFERENCE

Isherwood, C. (1999 [1935] ) ‘Mr Norris changes trains’ in ‘The Berlin novels’ pp.1-236. London: Vintage.

*****

…

TO MY FRIEND FOR THE HOUR OR TWO AND LUNCH

…

AND CHEERING ME UP DURING

DIRE TIMES

XXXX

FOR BOOK GROUP 2024  20 (90) GLORIOUS YEARS

…

’ “Have you read 'Winnie the Pooh’, by A. A. Milne?” ’ (Isherwood, 1999, p.29).

…

WINNIE THE POOH

YES I HAVE

📚

IN FEBRUARY OUR MEMBERS ALSO READ …

…

THE CHOIR

&

…

THE MEN AND THE GIRLS

‘What I enjoy particularly about her books is understanding life from the different perspectives of the various characters and being able to empathise with them, even if their thoughts and feelings are different from what my own might have been. Her characters are plausible.’

📚

…

THE INK BLACK HEART

‘I thoroughly enjoyed it but did get a bit fed up with all the “on line” chatter though I could see the point of it, it was definitely part of the story. I feel she must be very up on how computer games work, which I am most definitely NOT!’

&

…

THE DEAD OF SUMMER

‘I enjoyed this and it did not end as I expected it to which I thought was quite clever and that she kept me guessing.’

&

…

CHARLES III

‘Very readable.’

📚

…

THE GOLDFINCH

‘It's very long and I loved about three quarters of it, lots of descriptive writing, a tragedy at the beginning when there is an explosion in an art gallery, a young boy's mother is killed, an elderly man and his grand daughter survive. The boy takes the picture of the goldfinch off the wall and we follow his journey being cared for by a furniture restorer and becoming attached to the young girl survivor. But I got bored with the latter part of the book when the narrative concentrated on criminals finding the painting and bartering it between rival gangs … ‘

&

…

WHISPERS

‘ … a couple move into an old house and there are old diaries left there and people "see" and "hear" people and strange things happen … not my usual kind of book.’

&

…

I HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE

 ‘ … a “thriller”, some mysterious deaths from long ago are investigated and it was quite a good read but nothing special!’

📚

…

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

‘Lent to me by a friend, I had not wanted to read it. But contrary to my fearfulness, although dark and with a horrendous outcome for the little boy, his family and all Jews, it was very readable. 

Set in WW2, it is written through the eyes of the 8 year old boy, Bruno, whose father is commandant of Out-With. It took me ages to realise what this was!  It is written with the naivety and curiousness of an 8 year old, using his observations through simple language and short sentences … very effective. Consequently the reader is somehow spared the brutal facts until really the very end. But all along we know exactly what is happening on the other side of the fence. 

You can tell it’s made a big impression on me.’

&

…

MURDER BEFORE EVENSONG

‘Enjoyable, light but less light than Richard Osman. It was more thoughtful, the language was richer and the religious context was interesting and informative!’

MEANWHILE THE OTHER HALF

…

ACT OF OBLIVION

‘ … finished … ‘

&

…

HORSE UNDER WATER

‘ … now reading … ‘

📚

OUR READER LEADER

…

AUGUST BLUE

‘This is a very readable, slightly surreal book, about a famous pianist who was a child prodigy, but comes to grief when she ruined a concert in Vienna, when she was playing with an orchestra, and suddenly began to play something quite different. It has a rather enigmatic ending.’

&

…

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

‘ … still reading … As I only read one or two pages a night, it will probably take me the rest of the year! Although I am about three quarters way through.’

&

…

ALL THINGS ANGLICAN

‘ … by Marcus Throup (a priest in the Winchester Diocese). It is a short book about normal Church of England practice and belief, which I felt I should brush up on because of church politics.’

📚

…

BOOK GROUP

*****

CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD

*****

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2011 - 2024

…

12 EPIC YEARS

*****

FROM THE ARCHIVE

…

16/8/21

*****

[lilmerh]

for the choose violence ask game:

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Already answered 12, so I'll just do 8. It's been a while since I watched/read these things, so my memory is a bit rusty :/

[The Owl House]

-That Evelyn & Caleb are all that interesting lol. They practically took over the fandom (/hyperbole) when those portraits of them were showed, but I've never once found them that fun to think about. I don't know what it is that's grabbing other people and not me, but I just have zero thoughts about these people.

At least Belos is a fun character, so some fanart exploring him and Caleb's relationship is enjoyable, but other than his relation to Belos, IDC about Caleb. I care about Evelyn even less, and never cared about her being a Clawthorne either.

We got like, 2 minutes max of screentime of these guys, and 90% of it is just photos of them. We didn't even get to know them as characters. There's barely anything to talk about with them

-I don't think everyone is wrong about this (so doesn't really belong on this question?), but that Amity &/or Hunter are autistic. I don't necessarily disagree with this opinion, I just never picked up on that myself. I've seen people call them "autism coded" and I'm like "...where?" If I went looking for posts abt it, I'm sure I could get on board w/ it though

-Any romantic ship with Willow bc that girl is aromantic (Dana told me herself /j)

[Nevermoor]

That Ezra Squall is in any way good or redeemable. This is a divisive opinion in the fandom itself, so not "everyone", but as it stands in the series, I am nottt on board with this yet. If that's the direction Jess wants to take the story, I trust her to do a good job with it, but from what we've been presented of Ezra so far, I don't think he is good nor will become good.

I found the split between "Ezra the boy" and "Ezra the monster" and if those lines blur pretty fun to read, and I'm curious to find out if he has any motivations for the massacre (or any of the other stuff he did) besides power hunger. If it turns out he's just been unfairly villianized, manipulated, or just misunderstood, it'd have to be really well written or I'd be disappointed lol. I simply find him more fun as a villian

[The Walking Dead]

Prolly weird to bring this up out of nowhere, since I don't think I've ever spoken about it on Tumblr, but I am indeed a TWD fan.

Shane is a bitch ass motherfucker and not remotely fun to watch. Every second he's on screen he's nothing but a pain in the ass. I love Rick, so whenever he and Rick are arguing (which is constantly), I just want him to SHUTTT UPPPPPP. He keeps wanting to control the group in ways I hated, and is a bit too content with killing people to meet the ends. (For example, when he shoots a guy he's out on a supply run with JUST so the zombies will stop and eat him and let Shane run away?? He could'a just shot them when he'd gotten back on the bus, but nah, he had to kill his companion and wasn't even honest about it to the rest of the group.)

Some people say Rick is like this too, but he doesn't truly get murderous until several seasons of being the leader of a survivor group in a zombie apocalypse. And whenever he gets content with killing people, it's not framed as a good thing, it's a consequence of the stress, hurt, and lack of trust that builds up in the apocalypse. Rick is at his best when he's extending a hand to other survivors. Shane didn't even make it past S2 before being okay with unnecessary killing.

(Do note that sometimes, Rick killing people is a good thing. For example, when a group of men attacked the fam and one man attempted to rape Rick's son, to which he proceeded to rip out one man's throat with his teeth. That was quite cool of him.)

People who like Shane tend to also be unfairly judgemental of Lori, in my experience. Either because she started a relationship with him while being married or because she later wanted to end that relationship.

She started a relationship with him because she believed her husband was dead. Shane was even the one who told her he was. In her eyes, she was single again. It's fine of her to have sex with any other man at this point, and to slowly start viewing him as family, even letting him get close to her son.

When her thought-to-be-dead husband waltzes up to the survivor group, very much alive, though, it's reasonable she would want to be in a relationship with her husband again. It is also reasonable that she doesn't want her apocalypse fling to be a father figure to her son when his actual father turned out to be alive. She isn't unreasonable for ending the relationship with Shane, nor for not wanting him to act as Carl's father anymore. Shane doesn't have any right to act as the father to her son.

There may be other reasons to criticise her (she died pretty early on and I haven't seen TWD in a while so IDK) but if anyone criticizes her for either of these reasons they r wrong <3

Conclusion: Shane was an infuriating character and I'm glad he died

[rphelperblog]

The Lying Game Quote RP Meme

“We played along with the lie. We became the lie.”

A killer with a guilty conscience.”

The only way to win a lying game is not to play.”

You need to be honest with him and yourself, before somebody gets hurt.”

You think she's dead, don't you...”

Please tell me we're not gonna get all dysfunctional and nasty when we're middle aged.”

It's not exactly a love song. Think Kelly Clarkson, not Taylor Swift”

Does an innocent man run?”

Didn't feel like being the only former murder suspect at the pep rally.”

Well, we're in a motel. We're at least 100 miles from any parental supervision, your boyfriend is two doors down probably shirtless, do I need to go on?”

Legal geniuses don't work for free and I just checked under the couch cushions and I came up a little light.”

You're having boy troubles, which is still a crippling form of impairment.”

You have some real issues, ya know?”

You love him right? So what are you still doing standing here?”

Oh my God, something's happening. I actually think I feel bad for you.”

You, my friend, are a giant neon sign of sexy right now.”

You're too close to this. You're gonna get hurt.”

They can take the girl out of the foster system, but they can't take the foster system out of the girl.”

Nothing good ever happened without a fight, right?

If there's one thing frat boys can't resist, it's girls.”

“I know she's the more improved version, I get that a lot.”

Just to let you know, I'm choosing you. It's always been you.”

It was you people, with all your secrets and lies. Someone here did this, I'm gonna find out who.”

When I look at you, I turn into something I don't like.”

Are you gonna make me cry? Because I just put on mascara.”

All I ever wanted was a family.”

I'm just trying to prove his innocence. And you're trying to prove his guilt.”

We all feel things we shouldn't sometimes.”

It feels like I'm the one on trial now.”

You and me. We're everything.”

It's probably that "A" you got on your history final. Or that your boyfriend just got arrested for murder.”

He's in the big leagues now; that's for damn sure.”

This was always my life. You were just pretending to be a part of it.”

No offense guys, but at some point you're going to have to stop being surprised by things that man did in the mid-90s.”

I've lived with you for 16 years and I never needed shared DNA as a reason to love you.”

I know a huge part of you wants me to be guilty for one reason, but I'm not.”

It's like I got voted off the island.”

The safest thing you could do right now is stay out of it. This is a murder investigation.”

Is that why you waited until we were half naked in a motel room to tell me you were into my sister?”

Why do you allow yourself to be continually punked by that girl?”

You and I broke up, remember? So you lost the right to ask me that.”

even though we're not together anymore, what we had meant everything to me. In some ways it still does.”

he's the one that arranged your whole adoption, under the table of course. And I know that was wrong but how can I regret that? It gave me you.”

Between you and me, it's kind of a thrill to be back and turning heads.”

Don't you have to care about someone to be disappointed in them?”

Honest is not another one of my fortes.”

Look, that boy is distracting you, taking your focus off the plan.”

Pick a lower hanging fruit.”

This place? What are we hillbillies?”

Who knew you were the daughter I was forced to give up 17 years ago?”

you wanna take a walk down memory lane you gotta give me a head's up.”

Did I just walk in on my own funeral? Because if so, I've gotta say the turnout kinda sucks.”

I mean she was into the idea of living sorority life. I guess if you're into lying games there's no better venue.”

Well isn't this cozy. I'm sorry, have I come at a bad time?”

My dad is many things, but he is not a killer.”

I don't think fugitives from the law, tweet.”

Why is it that around here, the first thing out of people's mouths is a lie.”

The only mistake I made was taking your bastard ass in when nobody gave a crap about you.”

When you're accessing a true memory you look to the left, lying to the right.”

So you don't believe in destiny?”

So you're not just kicking me out of your house, you're kicking me out of your life?”

I can't. I've been burned by it too many times.”

Tell my wife I'm coming for her.”

Let's just say this weekend my bride finally gets everything she deserves.”

So you guys wanna go or should we go next door and look for the Easter Bunny?”

You've just been the bright spot in all of this.”

Don't you think it's a little late to be playing that card.”

if you hadn't been asking those questions we never would've found each other.”

It looks like some people need to start apologizing until I tell them to stop!”

I can either choose to be miserable or choose to be happy.”

I always wonder about that decision I made. What it would've been like to have kids of my own. I know I said it before, but I'll say it again. I never blamed you for that.”

“he  is a bit of a wild card, and that's the last thing we need right now.”

He doesn't need luck. He has me.”

If anyone found out that you know about me and her your life could be in danger.”

Tonight was kind of amazeballs and I hope it was amazeballs for you, too”

Please it's like riding a bicycle, a 1200 lb bicycle that would crush me if it landed on me.”

Trust me, if I were you I wouldn't quit at the finish line pal.”

You and I are on the same ship and it's sailing fast.”

never thought one of the best heart to hearts would be with you.”

We're sisters. We're related by blood.”

Look at it this way, the closer I get to her, the safer your secret is.”

So much for here comes the bride.”

Why? So you can stop second guessing your feelings for him?”

Who else would be so protective of the secret of the twins that they would kill for it?”

I don't know I wasn't really listening. An award for giving homeless people boob jobs or something?”

You wanna know another surprise? I'm getting pretty good at telling you two apart”

When our embryos split, you got all the heart.”